FLM 

2015 

033662 












it « w 


c 


o 


0* a v <- 

<£* f\ > * 




C,V >o '^W*' A 

t O*\--.\ •* 

C ♦ aaa\./ o 

vT , 


P V 


* < *» 


V'A 


/ % 

4 ,0* *o *, 

.0' o 0 " 0 •» 1 o 

v. ♦ o 


!> 0 -n#. 

0° v. 

•*%, , • • , -A 

V .V ■’ 

*. \><? : 

* V ^ 














S * a'N <*V ' o . A 


\ 




P v A 


o 




A- o^ 


*\. * o » 0 0 * 


• , 1 


I • o 


\0 v* 

•» ^ 

♦ r\ 

V V'^'y 

>r ,>••'. > v 


I - c 


<b <n 

V* A> 

4 r * <K % 

.0 o * 

P „ » .. 'T" 


O’ c ° " u - O 


0 


^ <c, 

^ A 

- <? vP 

<b '* . * * 4 ,G* Ad V 
A*> -CT -«'-•* ' ; - 

* A> Pc 






^ 0 


* / *1 




o * 

O ♦ 

cv <V 

^ > A*k ^ 

*. %, P ; 

' *v^ ; 

V <* 


* 9 - 0 9 <^ 


\ 


. * 




A 


/ A A 

<b '•♦'►• ,0 V A> * 

A* ,<P o 0 " 0 * O 


<t* w • ’ a 
V' • * * ® * CV V) 

^ <6 Ay oA 

VP ■*• %# : 

HUflHHlf 










* t 1 


P °o 

>r ^Vm\W> * N. > <*- 

r£* *> • <7 V O - 

*>.*•■•” p °* * 

'- ^ V CV .0’ 

*v>- «. ♦ A „ * *V . a*^ V 

: • 

• cf> pV 
,A-' ^v 

•■ /’ '’V**--.' <V y, 

,0 c 0 " 0 * O 

^ <s>\\\Ti^v ^ \N ^ j&rti/ssi l ^ 


o V 

x o 

^ cK 

* r\ ^ 

P .... V * 


V > -O m k ~ 

A 4 ^ 1 I 9 ^ 

-p *w??G' V- C 

v 0 < 
































^0^ 


0 V o°;p* Ad 
\ 












0*0 


$ 


v ^ 


'. % ( p 

* V 1 

<*> '"•>•* .0^ V> *« 

•“*. ^ ^O -1 .•_••. **0 


Ip *'<’• rj. 0 - 

^ p I* 

■<?*_ 

: An S S 


V > - 


" V ^ 

* *p c ' 

P-o V 


<5> " » » o 0 


> ^ Ak 

♦ Pv 

v . vV°'. s#, ■»? ^ 


® «5 r Pv 

^ N.’ 

_ <L^ O 

^ ^ % 

> - v p * • °* c 

<* 


* <1^ 

»-.* P V 

4 /*. > 


“ A ' 


* cP 

* v Ca 

-* <U V V^A 










































* I 


v\J 


<S\ * « - O ° A’ 



& A 


** A <. -o • * 

A * t * • ^ *$ ^ 




♦ • ■ ’ - *° 

’ •<■- O O v , 

- V A ♦* 

”, 

• A V "V '■> 

* V <f ” 


V' * o 

<5> *0,0 

»•*/>. \> 



^ A 


^0* 


• c^n 
. <L^ S ^ 

A v c • 

■*■-'■* tt-o* 



<s> * 



o £ ©* 

<$■ ' ' O , 

«> * • - ° Jr * • • ' • A 0 

A ^ V * ’ * °- c> .0' , 5 

N^*\ 

A % • * ^ *« A' A . 



.0 


O '* u 


A 




° ^5 ^ 

' «r o 

0 ,°” *" 1 * 

v ^ V CV 

^ .* Ao/\WVo *V A 

t ^ v 



A 


V A 


*° A , 

A * -' A ’ A * 

A' <v »• * *A 

u j . a j * _ _ __ •*■ < 

^, j£y v 

° ^ A * 

o lT* cP 

\P b 




<i> * o „ o 0 <0 o. «• . . 1 • ' ,0' 



•. V ,4> ' 


vv 


<* 



*; o 

° <L yC> 

* N 

° y 

** a v Ml 

% c S vP - ^tJ^r Q v V^. 0 

f 0‘ .•V*, o ^ ,•■••. ^ r 0 V .”V. 

'*'*- - . *AAA'Sl vr ^ .N ♦ J&df//5p! . T a , ^ *^nsS^^ 

”ov + .'jQ^&- 





/ -v 


•b-o 4 


r> 



.0 v* * \v» ’ < o 

, „o -%- A ^ 

f° V • » . • ’ «, O * 

-V* ■ •’,' '• ^ V s e\ 


^. •-• y ^ 

^ V 0 ’ *«- c- 

K: 4» '^s s 

' “ 





0 I 


° c- 

^S S 


A A. 

^ 'V 

a g ^> v 'Vrs s a 

0 V V - ' “ * '‘o 

c /^w- ° A • 


<y <*• » 



*y 






^° ^ # 

_ — r -r y >//« T f\ 

O * 7 * ^?- 

.» A ’’"' 0 f -••■ % "°“° v^ 

\ P* ; to&r. .* ■’. 

kP S 


4 O 

<X? XN 

% O.K o 

& * 0 « 0 9 ^ 

> V ^ ’ * -. O » 

“ vV- <. » . „ * 'f’, /A *• 

: \<* : mm° ^ . ; 

*" / A A. °o 

4 <L V rt* ^ ^ ^ „ 

a <(r v!> ^ a ^ .0 

k V rt w o A^ m K ' 0 + 

j ,uW. •%. 

•>-_y 'JZm&>s. 




* <■? A> 

* A v ^ 



,0 V o u "_ ° * . O . 


0 



A V 


.. ’ , o ■ 



V A 

> ■’jftVr A ,< 

A A 

,* ^ < 
'-v f ' • • ’ 4 •C'* 

^o .v •« , 

a ^ <r *' 

« ->* A *> 

♦ o V 

1 + ^ A * 

^ . i * <0 #<x ^ » n 


cr o ° 1 * t. o 




















Why was Louisburg 
Twice Besieged? 


A Paper Read by 

SAMUEL ARTHUR BENT, A.M. 

H 


Before the 


SOCIETY OF 
COLONIAL WARS 


in the 


COMMONWEALTH OF 
MASSACHUSETTS 

At Boston, April 30, 1895 


Published by 
Vote of the Society 


Iv0cfet»ij£f <tr$ C$uvc$ttf 

BOSTON 


y 


♦ 



V 



WHY WAS LOUISBURG TWICE BESIEGED ? 


E who would understand the train of 
events by which, at the close of one of 
our inter-colonial wars, Louisburg was 
built by the French, to protect them¬ 
selves and threaten the British posses¬ 
sions ; by which, in another war, it was 
captured, but restored to France; and 
by which it was again and finally taken and then abandoned 
by the English, — must read the history, not only of this 
country and England, but of the continent of Europe, 
for a period of seventy years from the accession of Will¬ 
iam and Mary to the English throne. 

From their settlement until the English revolution of 
1688, interrupted only by Indian hostilities, the Ameri¬ 
can colonies had enjoyed the peace necessary to their 
foundation and development. But when the revolution 
drove James II. from his throne, and sent into banish¬ 
ment such unpopular servants of his as Sir Edmund 
Andros, the English colonies, though heartily sympathiz¬ 
ing with these changes, found themselves embroiled in 
the disputes to which this revolution gave rise, and were 
obliged to take their part in the struggles which ensued. 
Even before the new charter of William and Mary was 
sent over, the project of the invasion of Canada and Acadia 

(3) 














4 WHY WAS LOUISBURG TWICE BESIEGED? 

was conceived by Massachusetts; as early as April, 
1690, his majesty was asked to supply arms and ammu¬ 
nition for the expedition, and a number of frigates, with 
which to attack the French by sea, while the colonies 
attacked them by land. In the same month Sir William 
Phips had captured Port Royal, in Acadia; and when 
the proposition was declined, owing to the war in Ireland, 
Massachusetts, in an alliance with Connecticut and New 
York, resolved to act on her own responsibility and 
attack Montreal by land and Quebec by sea. 

New England was now embarked in the first of the 
great wars which raged simultaneously on both conti¬ 
nents. We call it King William’s War; in European 
history it is known as the War of the Palatinate, when 
the smiling country among the vineyards of the Rhine 
and the Neckar, around the stately palace of the Elector 
at Heidelberg and the venerable tombs of the Emperors 
at Speyer, was turned into a desert. The early successes 
of France had exhausted her finances and decimated her 
population, while the defeats of William were reversed, 
as he became more firmly seated upon his throne, by 
victories in Ireland and Scotland. Still, by the Peace 
of Ryswick, in 1697, after the dismal failure of Phips’s 
Canadian expedition, after the terrible barbarities of 
the Indian warfare waged against the colonies, France 
retained the whole coast and adjacent islands, from 
Maine to Labrador, with the Hudson’s Bay country, 
Canada, and the valley of the Mississippi. The bounds 
between the two countries were imperfectly defined, 
and each was waiting for some opportunity to encroach 
upon the other. It soon presented itself in the second 
inter-colonial war, beginning in 1701, called Queen 
Anne’s War, or, in European history, the War of the 
Spanish Succession, in which England opposed the 
elevation of the grandson of Louis XIV. to the Spanish 


WHY WAS LOUISBURG TWICE BESIEGED? 


5 


throne. It was signalized by the great campaign of 
Marlborough in the Low Countries, and by English 
victories on the coast of Spain and in the West 
Indies. On this side of the water, the New England 
frontier was again desolated. Deerfield and Haverhill 
were destroyed by the Indian allies of the French; re¬ 
mote settlements were abandoned ; the colonists defended 
themselves in garrison houses; the gun accompanied 
the plough. Again an expedition against Canada failed, 
though Port Royal was captured, and to the shameful 
exhibition of the incompetence of court favorites Massa¬ 
chusetts had contributed ^40,000 in bills of credit. More 
than one man in five was in coast-guard service, in the 
defence of the frontier, or in the Canada expedition. 
Years passed before this colony recovered from the 
financial exhaustion, the disappointment and loss of 
these futile attempts. 

The Treaty of Utrecht, in 1713, however, after Marl¬ 
borough had humbled the French at Blenheim, Ramil- 
lies, and Oudenarde, gave the first check to France in 
her design to conquer Great Britain in America. Nova 
Scotia and Newfoundland were ceded to England, while 
Cape Breton was left to the French. From this time for¬ 
ward, the latter country, called Cape Breton from the 
early visits of Breton and Basque fishermen,—so little 
known that a British Prime Minister was surprised to be 
told that it was an island, — began to be an important 
factor in American affairs. The attention of the French 
government had already been called to the importance 
of its geographical position, and to the expediency of 
making one of its harbors the entrepot for the trade be¬ 
tween France, Canada and the West Indies ; while it might 
furnish a base for future attacks upon New England. 
Accordingly, when Newfoundland was given up to Eng¬ 
land, the French officials and inhabitants removed to 


6 WHY WAS LOUISBURG TWICE BESIEGED? 

Cape Breton, then a wilderness. The so-called English 
harbor was selected for fortification, and named Louis- 
burg, after Louis XIV. This deep and sheltered basin 
was capable of giving anchorage to a fleet of men-of-war. 
On a tongue of land between this basin and the coast, 
surrounded by barren hills and broad marshes, the forti¬ 
fication was built. It was begun in 1720, and cost the 
French over five millions of our money, and even then 
was not completed in accordance with the original plan, 
the king being unwilling to divert more money from the 
lavish expenditure of his court and the cost of his con¬ 
tinental wars. A considerable portion of the finer brick 
and stone was brought from France; while much timber 
and brick was purchased from New England traders. 
The French always contended that the works were con¬ 
structed carelessly, and that the officials in charge 
defrauded their government. As it was, the fortress was 
only completed a year or two before its capture, in 1745. 
Enclosed within it grew up a fishing village of some two 
thousand inhabitants; while the peace garrison amounted 
to one thousand men. The fortifications inclosed an 
area of over one hundred acres, and had a circumference 
of about two and one-half miles. They were planned on 
the best system, as laid down by Vauban and other 
great military engineers, and were, in spite of their 
faulty construction, the most complete example of a for¬ 
tified town in America. 

At the time we are now considering, the Peace of 
1713, the population of these colonies had reached 
375)75° whites and 58,850 blacks, and was rapidly in¬ 
creasing. Their trade amounted to twelve and a half 
millions annually. On the other hand, the population 
of Canada did not exceed 25,000, and the only towns — 
Montreal and Quebec — had not half the population of 
Boston. But in spite of this disproportion of numbers, 


WHY WAS LOUISBURG TWICE BESIEGED? 


7 


when George II. ascended the throne, there were already 
French forts and missions on many important points on 
the Great Lakes, on the Mississippi River, and even at 
Mobile, on the Gulf of Mexico, which were to be used to 
confine the English between the Atlantic and the Alle- 
ghanies. 

Like its predecessor, the Peace of Utrecht was but a 
truce, and the match was ready to set on fire both con¬ 
tinents. It was applied in 1744, when, in the War of the 
Austrian Succession, — called by us King George’s War, 
from George II., — the English supported Maria Theresa 
against France and Prussia. In it George II. defeated 
the French at Dettingen, while Marshal Saxe worsted the 
English at Fontenoy. To us it is important as the occasion 
of the expedition which captured the newly built fortress 
of Louisburg. This stronghold was seen to be a standing 
menace to all the northern British colonies. As the only 
French naval station on the continent, it commanded the 
chief entrance to Canada, and threatened to ruin the fish¬ 
eries, which were nearly as vital to New England as was 
the fur trade to France. While Cape Breton was French, 
the nominal possession of Acadia was of little security 
to the English. In spite of their oath of allegiance, it was 
evident that the Acadians would be both useless and dan¬ 
gerous as long as the French flag floated over Louisburg. 
The danger was imminent. Even before the European 
declaration of war, an armament, fitted out at Louisburg, 
had surprised the English garrison at Canseau, breaking 
up the fishery. Annapolis, the capital of Acadia, or 
Nova Scotia, had been threatened by the Indians, but 
was successfully defended. The English prisoners who 
had been sent from Canseau to Louisburg had remained 
there during the winter, and the accounts they brought 
back of its condition gave Governor Shirley reason to 
believe that if an expedition was speedily sent against it, 


8 WHY WAS LOUISBURG TWICE BESIEGED? 

there would be a fair chance of success. These pris¬ 
oners represented that not only was the garrison small, 
but that it was discontented, and that a mutiny had ac¬ 
tually broken out, on account of the soldiers not having 
received certain additions to their pay for work upon the 
fortifications. The ramparts were said to be defective in 
more than one place, and gales and other causes had de¬ 
layed the arrival of ships with provisions and reenforce¬ 
ments. 

When Governor Shirley laid before the General Court 
the plan — which it is possible had been suggested to 
him by one of the several men whose names are attached 
to it — for striking a blow at the French which would 
give the English control of the whole coast from Cape 
Sable to the entrance of the St. Lawrence, it was re¬ 
jected as foolish and chimerical; but on presentation of 
a petition, signed by New England merchants, complain¬ 
ing of the losses they had received from French priva¬ 
teers which found refuge at Louisburg, the project was 
carried by one majority. Shirley then called upon the 
mother country and the other colonies for cooperation. 
Everywhere but in New England the scheme was re¬ 
garded as quixotic. As the result of his application 
it was a New England expedition which attacked Louis¬ 
burg, aided by ten pieces of small ordnance and a 
quantity of powder and provisions contributed by New 
York. 

The forces against the French consisted of 4,070 men, 
of whom Massachusetts contributed 3,250 (one-third of 
them from Maine) ; New Hampshire, 304; Connecticut, 
516. William Peppered, who was placed in command, 
had become wealthy in commerce, and had held some 
important civil positions. Without military experience, 
he was a man of excellent judgment, undoubted courage, 
and a knowledge of the art of managing men. The old 


WHY WAS LOUISBURG TWICE BESIEGED? 


9 


Puritan spirit of the colonies asserted itself at this crisis. 
In the churches and on the domestic hearths prayers 
were offered that Romanism and its superstitions might 
be crushed out. A new crusade was preached by the 
clergy, and the great Whitfield placed upon its banner 
the motto, Nil desperandum , Christo dace. 

The ships which the Duke of Newcastle sent, under 
command of Commodore Warren, on receipt of Gov¬ 
ernor Shirley’s letter, met the Americans at Canseau. 
They materially contributed to the success of the expe¬ 
dition by capturing the French vessel on her annual 
trip to Louisburg with supplies, and manning her with 
English seamen. With this cooperation, on the 17th of 
June, 1745, after a siege of forty-seven days, the keys of 
the fortress were handed to General Pepperell, and the 
English flag was hoisted on the walls of Louisburg. The 
reception in Boston of the news of its capture was 
marked by the ringing of bells, the discharge of cannon, 
by bonfires and illuminations, and a public thanksgiving 
ordered by the governor. The rejoicings in Boston 
were echoed throughout New England, in New York, 
and Philadelphia. Stores for the garrison and materials 
for the reconstruction of the damaged works were or¬ 
dered by the General Court. New York contributed for 
this purpose £5,000; New Jersey, £2,000; Pennsyl¬ 
vania, £4,000. 

When Peppered reached Boston he was met by the 
governor and escorted to the town-house, where he 
received a vote of thanks, to which he made a charac¬ 
teristically modest reply. His return to his home in 
Maine, through the large towns of Essex County, re¬ 
sembled the triumphal progress of a Roman conqueror. 
Equal enthusiasm was shown in London, on arrival of 
the news of what one of her historians cads “ the great 
event of the War of the Austrian Succession.” The guns 


10 WHY WAS LOUISBURG TWICE BESIEGED? 

were fired in the Park and at the Tower. In return for 
a conquest which saved Nova Scotia to the British 
crown, Pepperell was made a baronet, — the first dis¬ 
tinction of the kind ever given to a colonist, — and 
Warren a rear-admiral. What was the disgust of the 
colonies when England, by the Peace of Aix-la-Cha- 
pelle, restored Louisburg, her only conquest during the 
war, to the French ! 

The War in Europe, from 1745, had drifted on, 
although its original purpose had disappeared. Both 
parties to it were financially exhausted, and were happy 
to close the conflict by mutually restoring their conquests 
in all parts of the world. In October, 1748, the Peace 
was signed by which Louisburg, won for England by the 
farmers and fishermen of New England, was given back 
to France. It is said that when the preliminaries of 
peace were under discussion, Louis XV. had demanded 
the restitution of Louisburg, and George II. is said to 
have replied that it was not his to give, having been cap¬ 
tured by the people of Boston; but his sense of justice 
was forced to yield to diplomatic necessity, Louisburg 
being the indispensable price of peace. 

The reasons for so unfortunate an act are matters of 
conjecture. It must be remembered that parliamentary 
government and ministerial responsibility, as we now un¬ 
derstand them, did not then exist. The government was 
not responsible to the people, nor to the House of Com¬ 
mons, but to the king. Nor, if the subject had been 
matter for debate, was there any system of parliamentary 
reporting. It is said, however, that conflicting represen¬ 
tations were made to the British ministry respecting the 
value of Louisburg to the English. Shirley indeed told 
them that it was the key to both the French and English 
northern colonies, and that if the French should be 
able to hold it, “ it would some time or other put them 


WHY WAS LOUISBURG TWICE BESIEGED? 


I 


upon disputing the mastery of the whole continent with 
the British crown.” Warren agreed with Pepperell in 
wishing to have it established as a civil government and 
a free port; but Warren’s successor, Commodore Knowles, 
thought the fortress not worth the trouble of keeping up. 
The fortifications, he said, were badly designed and worse 
executed, and the climate was frightful. It was at the 
mercy of a hostile fleet, and required naval defence. 
But Knowles, who is described as “ a testy person,” had 
an old prejudice against the colonies, and had spoken of 
their troops as “ banditti.” He had impressed mechanics 
in Boston to recruit his ships, whom he had given up, 
after a mob had attacked his officers. 

Other reasons than the opinion of Commodore Knowles 
may have contributed to a result so mortifying to the 
pride of our ancestors. The conquest of Louisburg, 
says Palfrey, had been made at their own motion, at 
their own risk, and at a cost, for the moment, at least, 
most embarrassing to them. That they had made it 
for their needful security, and that they had contributed 
by it to the glory and greatness of the empire, seemed 
to them alike reasons why it should not be relinquished. 
How far a jealousy of their growing power, he adds, 
manifested by so conspicuous a demonstration, may have 
operated to induce the English ministry to this morti¬ 
fying measure, cannot be positively affirmed. But an 
opinion was entertained in some quarters that in the 
British counsels the vicinity of French settlements and 
forces was not overlooked as a means of keeping the col¬ 
onies in their allegiance to Great Britain, through a sense 
of need of her aid for their security. In fact, this was 
suggested to the British Prime Minister by Governor 
Shirley, who wrote that if Louisburg should be strength¬ 
ened the crown would have an absolute hold of the col¬ 
onies, if ever there should come a time when they should 



12 WHY WAS LOUISBURG TWICE BESIEGED? 

grow restive, and disposed to shake off their dependency 
upon their mother country, the possibility of which, he 
added, “ seems to me some centuries further off than it 
does to some gentlemen at # home.” 

While the surrender of Louisburg was distasteful in 
the highest degree to the colonies to which its capture 
was due, Lord Mahon, in his History of England, asserts 
that, notwithstanding the exhausted state of the British 
finances and the depression wrought by the disasters in 
the Netherlands, the terms of the Treaty of Aix-la- 
Chapelle — especially the restitution of Cape Breton — 
were far from popular in England, and he adds that it 
was clogged with a clause most unwelcome to British 
pride, that hostages should be given to France for the 
restitution of Cape Breton, in the person of two noble¬ 
men of distinguished rank, who were selected for this 
purpose and sent to Paris. 

But if the surrender of Louisburg was a bitter pill to 
the colonies, it was of immense benefit to Massachusetts, 
for it was as a direct consequence of this act that our cur¬ 
rency was reformed and placed upon a specie basis. The 
evil of an irredeemable paper currency had weighed 
upon the colony during nearly half of its existence, 
beginning with the issue of bills of credit to pay for the 
disastrous expedition against Canada in 1690. Follow¬ 
ing wars had caused further emission of bills payable, 
first at two years, then at three, then at longer periods. 
In the meantime, the value of public securities fell, and 
specie, for which the paper money was a cheap substitute, 
disappeared. Different remedies were applied, but in 
vain; while the distress which they were intended to 
relieve was becoming intolerable. Upon the urgent rep¬ 
resentation of Governor Shirley, and in order to quiet the 
growing discontent of the colony, the entire sum ex¬ 
pended by Massachusetts on the expedition to Louis- 


)' 



WHY WAS LOUISBURG TWICE BESIEGED? 


13 


burg, equal to £183,650 as exchange then stood with 
London, was allowed by the English government. It 
came over, says Palfrey, in solid coin, “ and the people 
of Boston, little used to the sight of money, saw seven¬ 
teen trucks dragged up King street to the treasury 
offices, laden with two hundred and seventeen chests full 
of Spanish dollars, and ten trucks bearing one hundred 
casks of coined copper.” Before the arrival of the money 
its use had been provided for. Thomas Hutchinson, 
later Governor, then Speaker of the House, having 
opposed all the schemes hitherto advocated, urged the 
devotion of the money to the payment of the provincial 
bills of the old tenor, more than two millions of which 
were in circulation. After much opposition his views 
prevailed; and it was further enacted that silver at the 
rate of 6 s. Sd. the ounce, and Spanish dollars at 6 s. each, 
should be the legal tender of the province. The money, 
when it arrived, took the place of the outstanding notes, 
and for twenty-five years Massachusetts enjoyed a specie 
currency. 

It is not surprising that Hutchinson should begin the 
third volume of his “ History of Massachusetts ” by saying 
that the people of this province were never in a more 
easy and happy situation than at the close of the war 
with France; and he recounts, with no personal allusion, 
the establishment of the currency on a specie basis, the 
advantage whereof, he adds, was evident, and excited the 
envy of the other colonies, in each of which paper was 
the principal medium. 

When the English understood the mistake they had 
made in restoring Cape Breton to France, they endeav¬ 
ored to retrieve it, as far as possible, and, at the sugges¬ 
tion of Shirley and others, set to work to bring an 
English population into Nova Scotia, and to make it a 
source of strength instead of weakness to the New Eng- 


14 WHY WAS LOUISBURG TWICE BESIEGED? 


land communities. In 1749 the city of Halifax was 
founded on the west side of the harbor of Chebuctou, a 
harbor remarkable for its spaciousness and freedom from 
ice in the winter; and thousands of Acadians, who had 
supplied Louisburg with provisions and helped to build 
the French forts in Nova Scotia, were deported and 
scattered among the English colonies. 

We come now to the last and most momentous of 
these inter-colonial struggles, from which it is not too 
much to say that America emerged a nation. The con¬ 
flict began with us. Its cause was the proposed settle¬ 
ment of the English beyond the Ohio, opposed by the 
French, who constructed forts to connect Canada with 
Louisiana. When the contending parties stood face to 
face along this line, the spark struck from their flintlocks 
lighted the flame of war through the American forests, 
while across the ocean, England and Prussia stood side 
by side against Europe. Begun in shame and disaster 
on both sides of the Atlantic, with the defeat of Brad- 
dock, the fall of Oswego, defeat at Fort Edward and 
Ticonderoga, the Seven Years’ War opened with Fred¬ 
erick seemingly crushed at Kolin, Port Mahon lost to 
England, the English disgraced in Hanover. These 
defeats, the result of incompetence, maladministration, 
and favoritism, brought England to a despondency with¬ 
out parallel in her history, until the cry was heard, “ We 
are no longer a nation,” 

Then the man arose for whom the time called. Will¬ 
iam Pitt, “the great commoner,” loved by the people, 
though disliked by the king and hated by the court, was 
asked to form a ministry. His sublime self-confidence 
found utterance in the words: “ I am sure that I can 

save this country, and that no one else can ! ” — “ Eng¬ 
land has long been in labor,” exclaimed Frederick, “ and 
at last she has brought forth a man! ” 




WHY WAS LOUISBURG TWICE BESIEGED? 15 

In the great reorganization which followed, Pitt turned 
his thoughts towards America. His liberal policy for 
the colonies was aimed to win their confidence, and thus 
secure their support. He proposed to procure for them 
immediate and permanent security against the French 
and their Indian allies, to encourage and to remunerate 
their liberality, and to protect their rights. The colo¬ 
nies responded to his call. Twenty-eight thousand men, 
of whom Massachusetts contributed one-fourth, were 
brought into the field. On the other hand, the presence 
here of 22,000 regular British troops attested the hearty 
cooperation of the mother country. Governor Pownall 
wrote to Pitt that, in spite of the large expenditures of 
Massachusetts, the General Court had voted to borrow 
^78,000 for the approaching campaign, and that such 
was the spirit of the people that the subscription to the 
loan was filled in twelve hours. “ This province,” he 
adds, “ ever did, ever will, and ever must, take the lead 
when a spirited measure is expected.” 

To command these men, Pitt discarded court favorites 
and senior officers. He superseded Abercrombie, and 
called from Germany to the command of his eastern ex¬ 
pedition Col. Jeffrey Amherst, with the rank of Major- 
General. The second in command was a young man, 
who had been at Dettingen and Fontenoy, who was a 
lieutenant-colonel at two and twenty, ambitious and 
conscious of his ability, who was, by one great act, to 
earn an immortality of fame, — James Wolfe. 

Even before the declaration of the war which was to 
begin in disaster and end in permanent conquest, the 
English ministry had formed the plan of assailing the 
French in America on all sides at once, and of repelling 
them, by a bold and concerted action, from all their en¬ 
croachments. 

Let us for a moment consider the five objective points 


1 6 WHY WAS LOUISBURG TWICE BESIEGED? 

of this final struggle for the possession of the North 
American continent. They covered the whole territory 
controlled by France, and the campaign which now 
opened included, ist, the capture of Fort Duquesne, 
which was the key to the region west of the Alle- 
ghanies; 2d, Louisburg and Acadia, which, in French 
hands, threatened New England, and controlled the 
fisheries of Newfoundland; 3d, Crown Point and Ticon- 
deroga, which controlled the route to Canada by way of 
Lake George and Lake Champlain, and offered a start¬ 
ing-point for French expeditions against New York and 
New England; 4th, Niagara, which lay on the portage 
between Lake Erie and Ontario, and protected the great 
fur trade of the upper lakes and the west; 5th, Quebec, 
the strongest fortification in Canada, which controlled 
the St. Lawrence and the eastern province of Canada. 

The second expedition against Louisburg was con¬ 
ducted on a larger scale than that whose modest equip¬ 
ment, but glorious result, this Society proposes to com¬ 
memorate. The fleet commanded by Admiral Boscawen 
was composed of twenty-two ships of the line, eighteen 
frigates, a sloop, and two fire-ships, carrying in all 1,800 
guns; 120 transports carried a train of artillery, and 500 
American rangers and carpenters, under command of 
Lieutenant-Colonel Meserve, of New Hampshire, who had 
served in the first siege, — the British forces exceeding 
12,000 men. The French garrison numbered 3,400 reg¬ 
ulars and 700 militia. There were in the harbor fourteen 
French men-of-war, carrying 562 guns. The town was 
well supplied with provisions and military stores; the 
walls of the fortress were defended by 218 cannon and 
18 mortars. A landing was effected on the 18th of 
June, and in a month’s time the investment was com¬ 
plete. The garrison made an obstinate defence. Sev¬ 
eral of the French men-of-war were sunk, to prevent the 




WHY WAS LOUISBURG TWICE BESIEGED? 17 

English ships from entering the harbor. When the siege 
ended, not one French ship had escaped destruction. 
The bombardment destroyed not only the fortifications, 
but most of the buildings of the citadel and the town; 
and on the morning of the 27th of July the cross of St. 
George waved for the second time over the fortress whose 
glory was ended, and which was soon to disappear from 
the pages of history. 

The English obtained possession of 221 cannon, 18 
mortars, a great quantity of stores and provisions ; nearly 
six thousand officers and men became prisoners of war; 
the inhabitants of the town were eventually sent to La 
Rochelle, in France. The army of Amherst went by 
way of Boston to join Abercrombie, in Canada. 

The Canadian writer Bourinot, in his work on Cape 
Breton, comparing the facts of the siege of 1758 with 
that of 1745, admits that Pepperell’s success was the 
more remarkable of the two. “ In the one case,” he 
says, “ a famous admiral and experienced generals 
were at the head of an army of 12,000 well-trained 
soldiers, and of a fleet of at least 50 war vessels, the 
noblest that ever appeared in American waters; with 
officers thoroughly trained in the use of artillery, and 
with a great store of all the machinery and munitions of 
war necessary to the reduction of a fortified town. In 
the other case, a relatively insignificant body of men, 
without regular training, unskilled in siege operations, 
poorly provided with cannon, tents, and stores, were led 
by men taken from the counting-house and farm. These 
colonial troops were supported by a few small vessels of 
their own, and by an English squadron, which did not 
exceed nine vessels at the close of the siege. If the 
operations of the two sieges are compared, it will be seen 
that Amherst and Wolfe followed closely, whenever pos¬ 
sible, the same plan of attack that was adopted so sue- 


18 WHY WAS LOUISBURG TWICE BESIEGED? 

cessfully in 1745.” Even Wolfe’s brilliant movements 
were in accord with suggestions made to the British gov¬ 
ernment by Samuel Waldo, one of the officers of Pep- 
perell’s expedition. 

The second capture of Louisburg was the first great 
success on this continent of the campaign commenced 
under the inspiration and genius of William Pitt. Again, 
as in 1745, the bells rang, cannon were fired, towns were 
illuminated from Maine to Virginia. In London, the 
colors captured at Louisburg were placed in St. Paul’s 
Cathedral amid the roar of cannon. In this country, all 
along the anxious line, from Lake George southwards, 
Englishmen breathed more freely as they saw the French 
power soon to be wiped out from the American conti¬ 
nent. It was the turning-point of the war in both hem¬ 
ispheres. Every point on this side marked out by Pitt 
was gained. 

The second expedition against Fort Duquesne, in 
which Washington led the attack, captured the post, 
which was to be called Pittsburgh, from the great 
“ organizer of victory.” The year after the capture of 
Louisburg New York was extended to the Niagara River. 
Crown Point and Ticonderoga were occupied by the 
British. Wolfe followed up the victory of Louisburg by 
the capture of Quebec, and with this great achievement 
the British flag waved from Cape Breton to the Missis¬ 
sippi. The five points originally sought for had been 
gained, and when the Peace of Paris was signed, in 1763, 
all that was left of the vast possessions of France in the 
New World were two small islands south of Newfound¬ 
land. To England she gave up her possessions east, to 
Spain the country west, of the Mississippi. 

With the conclusion of this war began a new chapter 
in the annals of the world. To quote the late historian 
Green, “ It is no exaggeration to say that three of the 






WHY WAS LOUISBURG TWICE BESIEGED? 19 


many victories of the Seven Years’ War determined for 
ages to come the destinies of mankind. With that of 
Rossbach began the re-creation of Germany; with that 
of Plassy the influence of Europe told for the first time 
since the days of Alexander on the nations of the East; 
with the triumph of Wolfe on the Heights of Abraham 
began the history of the United States of America.” 
The triumph of Wolfe was made possible by the second 
siege of Louisburg. Within a year after the capture of 
the fortress a fleet of twenty-two ships of the line and 
many frigates, with an army of nine thousand men, 
assembled in that port and made preparations for the 
conquest of Canada. When the colonial contingents 
had arrived, and the necessary arrangements had been 
made, the last great fleet that has ever entered the harbor 
sailed for the St. Lawrence to accomplish that great and 
decisive feat of arms by which Canada was lost to France 
and a colonial empire gained to England. 

After the building of Halifax, and especially after the 
capture of Quebec, the English government had no 
motive for maintaining Louisburg at the heavy cost which 
it required. Pitt, therefore, instructed Amherst to de¬ 
molish the fortifications. “ Render,” he said, “ the port 
and harbor as incommodious and as near impracticable 
as may be.” Its garrison, armament, and stores were 
therefore transferred to Halifax. Much of the stone 
which formed the foundations and ornamental parts of 
the best buildings was carried to the same place, where 
they were used in the new town that was growing up 
on the hill overlooking the harbor. Thus “ Louisburg 
passed away from the memory of the world.” 

The war which closed by the Treaty of Paris, in 1763, 
had been a costly one to the American colonies. They 
had spent sixteen million dollars, and England repaid 
but five million. The former lost thirty thousand men, 


20 WHY WAS LOUISBURG TWICE BESIEGED? 

while throughout their borders were suffered the untold 
horrors of Indian barbarity. The taxes sometimes equalled 
two-thirds of the taxpayers’ income ; but these taxes were 
levied by their own representatives, and were paid with¬ 
out a murmur. Troops had been raised and supplies 
voted, not by England, but by the colonies. While sup¬ 
porting the British Empire, they were legislating for 
themselves; while fighting the battles of Great Britain, 
they were learning how, when the time came, to fight 
against Great Britain. Sneered at by young English 
subalterns for whom our own officers were thrust aside, 
the latter received a military education, which gave us, 
when our time came, the trained services of Washington, 
Gates, Montgomery, Stark, Arnold, Morgan, Putnam, 
Gridley, and scores of others. From isolated commu¬ 
nities, the colonies were brought together by a common 
interest and a common defence, and were thus prepared 
to stand together when their own time came to make the 
attack against the common foe. 

“ The stormy coast of Cape Breton,” wrote Parkman, 
“ is indented by a small land-locked bay, between which 
and the ocean lies a tongue of land, dotted with a few 
grazing sheep, and intersected by rows of stone that 
mark, more or less distinctly, the lines of what once were 
streets. ' Green mounds and embankments of earth en¬ 
close the whole space, and beneath the highest of them 
yawn arches and caverns of ancient masonry. This 
grassy solitude was once ‘ the Dunkirk of America.’ 
Here stood Louisburg; and not all the efforts of its con¬ 
querors, nor all the havoc of succeeding times, have 
availed to efface it. Men in hundreds toiled for months 
with lever, spade, and gunpowder in the work of de¬ 
struction, and for more than a century it has served as a 
stone-quarry; but the remains of its vast defences still 
tell their tale of human valor and human woe. . . , 


BD -2at 


WHY WAS LOUISBURG TWICE BESIEGED? 


21 


Beyond lies a hamlet of fishermen, by the edge of the 
water, and a few scattered dwellings dot the rough hills, 
bristled with stunted firs, that gird the quiet basin; 
while close at hand, within the precinct of the vanished 
fortress, stand two small farm-houses. All else is a soli¬ 
tude of ocean, rock, marsh, and forest.” 

And here it is that the monument to be raised by the 
descendants of the Soldiers of Colonial Wars, on the 17th 
of June next,— the anniversary of a day fateful in 
our history, — will commemorate the valor of our New 
England troops, of which the early manifestation of 1745 
was the bright augury of a later and splendid demon¬ 
stration. 










































































% ^r *' * 



c, P 

V> **V 

V—*\^ \ — <v * 

°o Avsfc*«r c° ,W2^; °o / ^ 

*o« ■'£§&: *b/ 

^ °-* *.^i^S‘’.° ?»° t*. 



4 ° V 



o n 0 ~ ^ 0 "^*r> 

.0* . • • "> 

, -‘aV/V ^ ^ 

?** :M^*. W 

' %• ■ ©I®- * <£ : >~ o 1 

<T, .0* • 

-*> Sf 
^ 0 










<* 



s p 

»/ «* v % 





c 


0 




0 


'U 

'P -V 

. ^p 

< «xxx^ - S ' ^ 

, «y ^ ^vK"v v ^ 

' • • ‘ %'"■■'{' <v ' 

c° °o .** “•, ** 

*b / :*£fi& 

>° t *., 

,\ V ... “-*• '*••>' A U ' V * ^ ^ \ *..»» 

« V »V^C:- ^ P • '*“• •> V % .VV> O c,’ 



O. 




p V 


V v^fW.* j>\ 

& * <s ;y •* v ^ 

O '° . » 4 A p * 

' • ♦ ^O . A ^ c ° " ° 4 "b 

i *> • «-S s CVv ^ *p 

<» *y 



V *C 



* 0v b 


,0 




>cV 








.0 


> 


o 

°U ’ P - ° A 

<A < 0 , ’ * o 

P c, Deacidified using the Bookkeeper process. 
Neutralizing agent: Magnesium Oxide 
\V Treatment Date: April 2010 

*> ^ 


A 



PreservationTechnologies . 


c. p 

4? ^ 

■a. P 

J * * * “ «0 o - o . 4 

^ V i. < # ^4 \ 

(0 -r ^ . 0 “JL 0 -* . A WORLD LEADER IN COLLECTIONS PRESERVATION 

a ^i^i\I//y^ : ' * ,>> -v 

^ 0^ • —* O V Cranberry Township. PA 16066 r n 

4 O ♦ 'y^’Q^K\ n * c\ * / (724)779-2111 I^H 

> P «° •> V ”^ 


O 



”P 


Vi/ 


«o -r 

*> <. 





A 


0 




O 'o.,- /\ ^ 

^'r £ o» * <<> 

’ o A . c ,-^cv % -#* 

o x 0t* ► * 

* ^c * v 

x- <£■ * * ' ^ »* ^L’ 

v <* * * ’ 

l0 •'*£*> V S »*' 

^ ^ e *iiyf* ^ *^cv^a° ^ & *' 

M 'Ma - \n V • M»° 

s^ r , iw,$m$: a-* - ^ 




A 


0 V t - t,# 


<* 



c. »/v 

* 0 V +3 ',f' 



• ^ o 

O.K r 
A o 

P . A *?* 
A A 

vP V 


° 

o v* .°*ws 


O' 









* <& v/ <^. 



o 


<r 



'A ° * ‘ , 

^ A\ m V. 

O. V* 0 ° “ ° -t 

1^ • r-C^Vv < ^ 

* *y 

__ ^ 0 * 

J. 0 •’■<*. 

Ac 

^ ""' * A' 

► *’*' > v^ s 

** — 

A-* M l—" 

4> *% 

V *° ’ 1 “ X C ^ .0* ^ -«*'.»* A 

°o A , c ..*,A 'V r 0 v t « L '*4 *o c C! " • ♦ ^ 

I ° v . . >* o x . - o k : <5wg®: ^ 

-A 'A 0 X 0 "A 

O o ^ * v ^ o ■*# v ^ a ^ * h 

l* .... % "' s<‘ ,.. % A° ^ *"’• y 

^ ^ ^ \t % * . * O A' a t * o ^ v 

A & A A ** * 

'A- I^ ,; j ' " ; ■» 

r A A v & • ^ ^ A#W, A' ^ 

4 & , %,'*"* .V s <- *'..•• A A 

A_ c° .vA. °o A .»jAr*. ^ ,o 4 »•'■•• A 

■Ao^ . mmSfi- *o ^ 





,-t 






4S°* 

* A o - 

*■’• A 

v aA^La C\ 

^ f. sf' 

tMmk*. %. A ; 

C,^ o 

* -0? *>>• o v iV \K * /tv *^*. . 

. ^ -a. 1 , y -* v’ ^ 

tG "<» • * * <\ ^ 

c°‘ ..i 1 ^, °o A.‘ 0 '"-^ 
^ ~ '"o V^ 


• * * A . 

'o n^ v o 0 * 0 * "<$A 

^ O • r^SVv r *p 

k coA\\n^ * rr , 

> . o<s ^ki“ a c 

Jy 0 ^ *<^///^> SX’ 

o 0 o ^ ^* 

f° ^ ‘ a 

v .’*<** > V ^ s *‘ 

<<*v 





C JN 

- & ^ 

• * * <G 'o» i 

+ C° . • V A. °o 

> r>X ,’fijpg^. ->*0 


!> 0 Ai. 

.■?,xr-T 18 '*.T.’ A 0 7 ^ - 

v' ST. AUGUSTINE A V A * "> 

^^FLA. <6 A^ % >W* 


O' 

32084 

v^\r 4 * ^ • 

r> . ! * A. ^ 



t0 




























